


Prince Charming

by Marvelruinedmyspirit



Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-08
Updated: 2014-08-08
Packaged: 2018-02-12 06:44:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2099538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marvelruinedmyspirit/pseuds/Marvelruinedmyspirit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is for the Marvel RarePair Exchange (Assignment 4).<br/>College AU - Jane, an astronomy student, gets to know Loki, her boyfriend Thor's little brother. While Loki isn't what Jane expected, maybe he is, in his way, her Prince Charming?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Prince Charming

Jane stepped out of her car, dragging her bag full of books with her. Her first period was Social Sciences. She hated it, but she had to take a class which didn't have to do with Physics, and Social Sciences had the word 'science' in it, even though it was as far from real science as literature. At least, the two hours-a-week it took was a nice break to chat with Darcy, her best friend. It was really enough to make her like it, but it was the best she could make out of it.

She was already late, and the hall was empty, except for her and a man. He was black-haired, and it took her a moment to realize that she knew him. She was about to call him and say hi, because anything was good enough to slow her on her way to Social Sciences, before she realized where she knew him from.

It was Loki, her boyfriend's little brother, or, she mentally corrected herself, her boyfriend's obnoxious adoptive little brother, who was in no way blood-related to her boyfriend, Thor, who was about the nicest human being on the planet. Not that she had been dating him for so long ; she just knew that, because it was known, and because, in the month they had been together, he had always been perfect, a real Prince Charming.

Unfortunately, his brother, who was one year younger than her and Thor, was not a Prince Charming. He was unpleasant, and he took great pleasure to mock anyone he didn't like. And the only person he liked, or rather, the only person Jane thought he liked, was Thor.

She was already late, and she almost walked past him, but then, she stopped, right in the middle of the way. Loki was sitting on a chair, next to a door, and he was scribbling words in a book. She paused, not knowing if she should go to her class or stay and try to find out what he was doing there. She glanced at the end of the hall, where her class had already started. She could feel the boredom from where she was.

She stepped towards Loki, who didn’t even bother raising his eyes in her direction.

“Um, hi”, she tried. He raised his head, and nodded. “I’m Jane.”

“Hi, Jane. I’m Loki.” He said, and she had the unpleasant feeling that he thought that she was stupid.

“I know, you’re Thor’s brother.”

“I know who I am.”

“I’m Thor’s girlfriend”, she said.

“Wonderful. Now that we’ve both established that we know who we are, does this have a purpose, or do you just tell everyone who you are?”

She was torn between punching him really hard and just leaving and never making the mistake of talking to him again. Instead, she chose to do what would annoy him most, and she sat on the chair right next to him.

“What are you doing?” She asked, keeping her voice as friendly and as ridiculously high as possible.

He glared at her.

“Homework”, he said.

“What subject?”

“English.”

“Do they teach English here?” She asked.

“Are you stupid on purpose?” He replied. “It’s… It’s English Literature in the 17st century.”

“Oh, so, um. Shakespeare, that kind of stuffs.”

“That kind of stuffs, yeah.”

“Can I ask why you’re doing your homework here, instead of, I don’t know, anywhere else?”

“Where would I go?”

“You’re aware that we have a library?”

“I crave originality and attention.”

“You’re a winner.” He shrugged her off. “Don’t you have a class right now?”

“So?”

“Shouldn’t you… You know? Be there?”

“Look who’s talking. Social Sciences is this way, and it started twenty minutes ago.”

“How do you know I have Social Sciences?”

“Your friend Darcy was looking for you. Oh, by the way, if she tells you what an ‘A-hole’ I am later today, I might have told her to have sex with herself where I wouldn’t see her. Not that politely.”

She rolled her eyes.

“A real Prince Charming”, she said.

“I beg your pardon?”

“Forget it”, she shrugged off. “So? What’s your paper about?”

* * *

“How was Social Sciences?” Darcy asked when she joined Jane in the line at the coffee shop. “Silly me. How would you know, you weren’t there.”

“Sorry”, Jane said. “I arrived late, and then, I got distracted.”

“By what? What could be better than Social Sciences?”

“What about anything?”

“Let me guess. Handsome, tall, blond-haired, deep blue-eyed, Thor.”

“Close enough. Loki.”

“Who?” Darcy frowned.

“Loki. Thor’s little brother. Kind of handsome, not so tall but tall, black-haired, deep blue-eyed, Loki.”

“Oh, yeah, I only know him by that name. Thor’s little brother. I didn’t know you two were friends.”

“We’re not. I was scolding him for not being in class.”

“While not being in class yourself. Appreciate the irony.”

“Then we talked about stuffs.”

“What stuffs?”

“All kinds of stuffs. College, family, friends, economy in Brazil…”

“All kinds of normal stuffs that anyone normal would talk about.”

“We covered a few fields, I got late to cosmology, I didn’t care, then, I got late to lunch, and I didn’t care, but I was hungry, so I left to buy a sandwich, and when I returned, he was gone, so I decided that I wanted coffee, and here I am.”

“You skipped cosmology?” Jane nodded. “You love cosmology!” Darcy exclaimed. “You once told me that you would rather never eat nachos again than skipping cosmology.”

“Eh, you’re the one so obsessed with nachos. While I find nachos reasonably good, eating nachos isn’t really my passion.”

“You see my point? You never skip cosmology.”

“It’s fine, I asked someone her notes.” Darcy hummed, turning away. “What?” Jane asked dryly.

“Nothing, I was just thinking… How is Thor?”

“He’s fine, why do you ask?”

Darcy didn’t reply.

* * *

Jane took her books with her and left the astronomy section. She was making her way out of the library, when she walked past the theater section. It was a place of the library she had never gone to before. She had never considered reading novels for fun as an option. The only fun books she read were science books. She just couldn’t see the point in following the lives of fictional people she could care less about.

That is, until one week ago, when her boyfriend’s little brother spent a good twenty minutes blabbing about old English poets writers or whatever. She could have complained, if she hadn’t just spent forty minutes blabbing about old Physicians Doctors or whatever. He had listened to her longer than anyone ever had, Thor included. It had felt good, and she’d thought that she had to return the favor. So she had listened to Loki’s explanations on authors she didn’t remember the names. She wished she did; some of the stories he had told her about seemed interesting. Not enough to make her forget about cosmology, but enough to make her want to look it up.

She glanced at the shelves, looking for a name she might know. She never would have thought that there were so many writers or so many books. She blinked, trying to remember. This one was familiar, or maybe…

“What are you doing?”

She jumped. Loki was standing right behind her, smirking with all of his face.

She briefly wondered if she could get herself out of there without admitting that she was looking for the names he had told her, but it seemed hopeless. Unless she said that she was looking for someone else’s book because they couldn’t come here themselves, but then, he might ask her what the authors and the titles were, and she couldn’t very much make these things up. What was the use to lie, anyway? It wasn’t like she was doing anything wrong. She wasn’t. She was only being curious about something different.

“I was looking for a book”, she confessed.

“Which one? Maybe I can help.” He had lost his infuriating smile, his voice so polite that it was out-of-character, to her point of view, anyway.

“I’m not sure, actually. I… Nevermind.” He stared at her, waiting for her to make up her mind. “I was looking for that book you told me about, with the twins and the island.”

“Twelfth Night.”

“I don’t know.”

“It’s Twelfth Night”, he asserted. He put his own books on a shelf nearby and looked for the book she wanted. “Why are you looking for it?”

“Well, next time I have a discussion with a Shakespeare lover, I want to be able to say more than ‘isn’t that the guy who died once?’”

“How thoughtful.”

She nodded and, since she didn’t know where to look, she dropped her gaze to the books he had borrowed. It was a guide to learn the stars and constellations. “And you?” She asked, happy to have a weapon to fight back.

She was probably crazy, but she thought that she had seen him blush, slightly. He regained composure immediately. “Well, next time I have a discussion with an astronomy lover, I want to be able to say more than ‘isn’t that the universe we live in?’”

She allowed herself to smile. Maybe looking for a book he had told her about wasn’t as embarrassing as she thought, if he was doing the same on his side. Or maybe they were both embarrassing themselves, but then, it didn’t matter.

He took a book from the shelf in front of him, and gave it to her. She reached out for it with a small “thanks.”

“You’re welcome”, he muttered. For a minute, she didn’t know where to look at. “So… You read it, and you tell me what you thought?” He said, in an almost hopeful tone.

“I’ll do that. I have an hour until my next class, I can start it, and… I’ll see you tonight, right?”

Loki blinked. “Did I… I’m sorry, tonight?”

“Tonight, for the party.” She had gotten the text earlier in the week. Thor, her boyfriend, was inviting a few friends over, and if she wanted, she could join them. She had accepted; she liked Thor’s friends. She had asked if Darcy could come, and of course, Darcy had been invited as well, with so much enthusiasm that she wasn’t sure if it had been her idea or Thor’s in the first place. The party wasn’t anything huge, a dozen people at most, some music, pizza, drinks… It wasn’t a party as much as an occasion to have fun while Thor and Loki’s parents were gone for a few days.

Now that she thought about it, never had Thor mentioned Loki in the short list of guest he had made. Not that Thor mentioned Loki a lot, but maybe Loki didn’t know anything about the party, and now, she had a good reason to feel embarrassed.

To her great relief, he nodded vaguely. “Oh, yeah, right. I forgot about the party. I don’t think I’ll go. I mean, I live there, but I don’t think I’ll join.”

“Oh.” It was the only acceptable answer. She was disappointed, she couldn’t hide it completely. Besides, it would have been rude not to show disappointment. But she didn’t want to make him feel guilty about not being at the party if he didn’t want to.

“But if you get the chance to read a few pages”, he said, pointing at the book she was holding tightly, “and you want to talk about it…”

“Give me your phone”, she ordered him suddenly. He frowned, but obeyed. She grabbed his phone, and sent herself a message. “I have your number. If I want to talk about the book, I’ll text you.”

His lips disappeared into a thin line, but he nodded. Then, he walked away, taking his books with him. He turned one last time before disappearing, leaving her with an odd feeling, sinking in her stomach, her heart hurting a little.

“How weird”, she breathed out when she was sure that he couldn’t hear her.

* * *

 

Jane had arrived at the party at seven, which was socially acceptable. She always took a great care to respect this kind of things, since she had been told that, sometimes, she locked herself in her own world made of stars and galaxies, and she could be a little insensitive about the rest of the world. So now, she was being extra-careful about what she did when it came to her friends and social life.

The party had already begun, and she and Darcy were the last guests to arrive. Thor had come to welcome them, and had introduced Darcy to his friends, that Jane already knew. There were Tony, Steve, Bruce, Clint, Natasha and Sif. Darcy had instantly become a part of the group, even faster than Jane had. She wasn’t socially awkward like Jane was, or not in the same way. Jane had always admired her ways with people.

Okay, maybe she was too busy thinking about science all the time to have more than one friend, but some people found it endearing.

After the pizzas were delivered, Thor and his friends decided to play video games, and they all, Darcy included, took turn to shoot aliens or robots or zombies or whatever it was that they were fighting.

As the night went on, she found her mind wandering to the man upstairs, alone in his room. She took her phone and texted him. ‘You okay?’

She tried very hard not to look at her phone for a whole minute, but the game wasn’t really interesting. Apparently, the planet had been invaded, and the fate of the world was in Sif, Clint, Steve and Darcy’s hands, which wasn’t comforting, considering that Darcy was rather sloppy with her guns.

She allowed herself one look at her phone. One message. Her heart hurt in the way it did when she was having a test she hadn’t studied for. ‘Yes. You?’

‘I’m downstairs.’ Sent. She gulped. Why did she have to make such a big deal out of it? She was so nervous at the idea that Loki was going to rebuff her, but it’s not like he had something to reject in the first place. She was just being friendly. And she had already talked to him a few times. For someone who was supposed to be cold and mean, he was surprisingly nice to her.

Maybe it was because of Thor. Maybe Thor had told him to be nice to his girlfriend. Or maybe he thought that she and Thor were becoming serious, and he wanted to have a good relationship with someone who might, one day, become part of the family.

She glanced at her phone. ‘I know. I hear shootings, I hope you guys are killing each other violently.’

‘It’s horrible. A lot of blood.’

‘If you get the chance, try to kill Tony.’ She grinned.

“What’s so funny?” Darcy asked, leaning on her shoulder. She locked her phone, more embarrassed than she ought to. She hadn’t even noticed that their game had ended, and that Tony and Natasha had replaced Sif and Darcy.

“Nothing”, she blurted out. “I… I was reading this article. Apparently, they’re considering making Pluto a planet again.”

She cursed herself. Pluto? Really?

“Don’t judge her, she’s a nerd”, Darcy said, and Jane sighed. This was not okay. This was far from okay. Why did she even feel the need to lie? If she wanted to be Loki’s friend, she was allowed to. It was her right.

“That’s cute”, Thor said.

Okay. That was guilt, panging sharply on her heart. She had the best boyfriend in the entire world. She had the Prince Charming, the one every little girl dreams about. She shouldn’t lie to him. She should be grateful that he ever landed an eye on her, instead of talking to his little brother.

Not that it was wrong or anything. It was perfectly normal for her to befriend her boyfriend’s little brother. It was part of that thing where you want your family-in-law to like you. Thor’s mother liked her, Thor’s father liked her, and she wanted Thor’s little brother to like her. Normal.

If she lied, it was just because Darcy had sneaked up on her. She had caught her by surprise, and so, she had instinctively lied. It was nothing. Nothing. At. All.

She promptly excused herself, and went to the bathroom. On her way back downstairs, she stopped in front of a door, with a sign on it. ‘Loki’ was written on it, as well as a small ‘don’t come in’ under it. She knocked, and heard someone move inside.

“I’m not coming down, Thor, I do what I want!” She heard from behind the door.

“It’s Jane”, she said.

“Oh. Come in.”

She opened the door. Loki’s room was dark, mostly because the shutters were closed and the room was only lit by a reading lamp on the desk. There was a bed, huge and undone, a wardrobe, and a few shelves so filled with books that she was afraid that they would break under the weight.

It wasn’t anything like Thor’s bright bedroom, but she liked it.

Loki was sitting at the desk, reading the astronomy book he had borrowed. She avoided his eyes.

“So that’s your room? It’s lovely.”

“Thank you.” She rubbed her arms, not knowing what else to say. This usually didn’t happen to her. Even if it wasn’t appropriate, she always had something to say.

“So, um. You’re not coming downstairs? It’s nice, there’s food, we’re having fun.”

“I don’t think I would have fun.”

“Oh.”

“Not that I’m against the idea of having fun”, he said. “Only that Thor’s friends aren’t my friends, and they don’t really like me. They wouldn’t want me to come.”

“Maybe they would, if they knew you.”

“Do you?”

“I’m not an expert on you, but you’re not as mean as I’ve heard.” He raised an eyebrow. “The first time I came here, Sif warned me about you. She told me to try and stay away from you. Apparently, you’re evil.”

“She’s such a good friend, it’s touching. Did she also warn you about her and her legendary crush on your boyfriend?”

“Really?” She said in a high-pitched voice.

“Are you trying to pretend that you didn’t know?”

“Absolutely.”

Loki chuckled, and Jane found him adorable. It was the first time he had done something that felt so natural, like something that he would do in front of a friend. She thought that it might be what they were, _friends_. She still didn’t know if it was right, to be his friend, and if she should tell Thor about it, but it felt good.

When Thor came up to see what Jane was doing, twenty minutes later, he found her in a great discussion with Loki. The door of his room wasn’t closed, and they were arguing about characters from a book he hadn’t read and didn’t intent to. They didn’t notice him, and he watched them for a while, uncertain of the feeling that were going on inside of himself. He was glad that Jane and his brother were getting along, if fighting over fictional people was called getting along. His brother didn’t have a lot of friends, in fact, Thor doubted he had any, and he was happy that he liked his girlfriend. Yet, there was something that bothered him in this, and it took him a minute to admit that, while he was glad that his brother was becoming someone’s friend, he wished that ‘someone’ had been someone else.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for the Marvel RarePair Exchange. This is the first chapter of Assignment 4.  
> Also, I'm not a native English-speaker, so, if I made any mistake, do tell me.  
> But anyway, let me know what you thought, and have a nice day, or night, or both.


End file.
